PEI’s astonishingly talented Tara MacLean – playing as a duo with fiddler Kinley Dowling and very special guest Anna Graves – returns to The Carleton (for the first time since her jaw-dropping performance at the Halifax Urban Folk Festival in 2023), on Thursday, July 24th. Show time is 7:30 PM and tickets are $25 + HST or $30 + HST at the door.
If you snoozed on Tara last time around, don’t make the same mistake this summer. It’s also worth noting that opener Anna Graves is close to racking up a half million YouTube views, which we don’t need to tell you is not puppy chow…
Canadian singer/songwriter Tara MacLean has been an internationally renowned and award winning recording and touring artist for over 25 years. She released her first album with the Nettwerk Music Group in 1996 and Sony Music Publishing Canada. Since then has been signed with Capitol Records, and EMI Canada with her JUNO nominated band Shaye. She has written and recorded seven solo albums and two with Shaye.
Tara has recently received the Senate of Canada Medal for her activist work in her community. She finished a run of three summer seasons with her hit theatre show that she wrote, produced, and directed called, Atlantic Blue -The Stories of Atlantic Canada’s Iconic Songwriters in Charlottetown. The summer of 2019 saw Atlantic Blue produced and directed by the world famous Charlottetown Festival playing three nights a week to sold out crowds.
Tara received the SOCAN Songwriter of the Year award as well as Solo Recording of the Year for her latest album, Deeper at the PEI Music Awards. Deeper was nominated for Pop Album of the Year at ECMA 2020. Her duet with Catherine MacLellan, This Storm, received the award for Song of the Year. She performed Songs from Atlantic Blue in concert with the PEI Symphony Orchestra. Last year, Tara received the Stompin’ Tom award by the East Coast Music Association, marking an outstanding contribution to music in the region.
Her first book, Song of the Sparrow, hit the Best Seller List the week it was released and Tara quickly followed up with Sparrow – the soundtrack for the book. The book and album were released in the UK where she just finished a successful summer 2024 tour.
Anna Graves is refreshed, both personally and professionally, after returning to her family’s farm in rural southern Minnesota, outside Minneapolis. Her new music, including her single Bluebird, features simple production that puts her vulnerable, ripped-from-her-life lyrics at the forefront.